The three latent classes of adolescent delinquency and the risk factors for membership in each class

This study used latent class analysis to examine subpopulation membership based on self-reports of delinquent behaviors obtained from Australian youth. Three discrete identifiable classes were derived based on 51 indicators of physical violence, property damage, minor infractions, drug use, and social delinquency. One class of youth engaged in primarily rule breaking and norm violations including underage alcohol use, typical of this age period. A second class was more actively delinquent emphasizing drug use, trespassing, and various forms of disobedience. A third class of highly delinquent youth differed from their counterparts by endorsing drug use, thievery that involved stealing money, goods, and cars, property damage, gambling, precocious sexual experiences, involvement with pornographic materials, and fighting. Multinomial logistic regression predicting class membership indicated highly delinquent youth were more likely to be older males, use venting coping strategies, and be fun or novelty seeking compared with rule breakers. Findings are discussed in terms of refining current taxonomic arguments regarding the structure of delinquency and implications for prevention of early-stage antisocial behavior.     

The promise and potential of studying the “invisible hand” of teacher influence on peer relations and student outcomes: A commentary

Peers influence children's social-emotional development and school engagement in important and unique ways. Recent research on peer social networks documents that children are affected by the nature of the school-based peer ecology, as well as by their personal peer experiences. Yet, little is known about how teachers affect the peer ecology, nor how teachers can promote positive peer influences in the school context. The four studies in this special section examine this issue. Together, they document the promise and the potential of studying the “invisible hand” of teacher influence on peer relations, and illustrate the need for further research in this area. This commentary considers the contributions of these papers for conceptualizing processes of transactional teacher and peer influence on student outcomes, and implications for interventions designed to reduce problem behaviors or increase school engagement. In addition, it considers the limitations of current knowledge and directions for future research.     

Observer,percevoir, partager : réflexions épistémologiques à partir d’une enquête ethnographique dans cinq établissements d’enseignement secondaire

For our research on “Gender practices and violence between peers: the stakes of mixed education” (ANR-09-ENFT-006), two researchers observed interactions between students within five schools during the 2011–2012 school year in an large French city. This paper focuses on the challenges of ethnography, the validity of the results produced by such a methodology, and the opportunity to intersect clinical (notably transference and counter-transference) and socio-anthropological concepts. Our analyses center on questions related to social class and the sex-gender system.     

Presence of meaning and search for meaning as mediators between spirituality and psychological well-being in a South African sample

Spirituality and meaning in life are important pathways to well-being. Research has conceptually and empirically linked spirituality, religiousness and meaning in life. The present study was concerned with investigating presence of meaning (MLQ-P) and search for meaning (MLQ-S) as mediators between spirituality (religious and existential well-being) and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. A multi-cultural sample of 326 South African students completed the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS), Questionnaire for Eudaimonic Well-Being (QEWB) and the Mental Health Continuum Short-Form (MHC-SF). Structural equation modelling in Mplus was used to study direct and indirect effects. Findings show that the presence of meaning in life explains more paths between spirituality and psychological well-being than search for meaning. MLQ-P mediated the paths between existential well-being and four of the five indices of psychological well-being. MLQ-S did not mediate any path between spirituality (existential and religious well-being) and psychological well-being outcomes.     

Reflective,Critical, and Reconstructing Contemporary Chinese Ethics

Contemporary Chinese ethics faces two theoretical tasks: expansion in breadth and exploration in depth. The former refers to the opening of the problem area, and the latter refers to the deepening of ethics itself. To get out of the dilemma that academic results in the area are abundant in quantity but low in quality, contemporary Chinese ethics should expand and deepen in the three dimensions, namely, “no longer,” “being” and “not yet.” Within the framework of “no longer,” efforts should be made to deepen the studies of the history of moral concept and practice, and the ethics of culture from the perspective of genetics; with regard to the perspective of “being,” the ethical reflection on public crisis, system and Lnstitutional ethics, the dilemma of virtue theory and normative theory, and the conflicts and generalization between different moral paradigms will become the difficulties that require in-depth analysis and demonstration. As for the contemporary Chinese ethics towards “not yet,” attention must be paid to the duality of modern technology, the origin of human ethics based on building a community with a shared future for mankind and the moral philosophy that goes deep into people’s minds. To complete the above theoretical tasks, one must have judgment, thinking, and willingness, which can only be cultivated in the experience and thinking of “practical” life.     

Centennial Exploration of the Chinese Road and Adapting Marxism to the Chinese Context

The centennial exploration of the Chinese road started with the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). This road is essentially characterized by modernization and adapting Marxism to the Chinese context. The fundamental correlation between China’s modernization and Marxism lies in the fact that China must go through a thorough social revolution to lay the foundation for its modernization cause, which charted a historical course from new democracy to socialism. However, only adapting Marxism to the Chinese context can help China’s modernization, because it is this philosophy that is intrinsically related to China’s practice in revolution, construction and reform. The contemporary form of adapting Marxism to the Chinese context is socialism with Chinese characteristics, which holds great significance for both the Chinese nation and international socialism and the overall development of human society in the new historical phase. This is a kind of “significance for world history” because the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation lies not only in its own development into a modern power, but also in the fact that it is actively opening up the possibility of a new type of civilization besides completing the modernization mission and obtaining achievements from modern civilization.